


On the Forest Road

by katdunn



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fourth Age, Gen, Humor, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Post-Lord of the Rings, Thranduil Not Being An Asshole, we die like orcs running away from Elrohir and Elladan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24702727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katdunn/pseuds/katdunn
Summary: Legolas and Gimli journey north planning to stop by Eryn Lasgalen. Gimli is afraid of a certain Elvenking's dungeons and Legolas clears up (quite a few) misunderstandings.
Relationships: Gimli (Son of Glóin) & Legolas Greenleaf, Legolas Greenleaf & Thranduil
Comments: 6
Kudos: 101





	On the Forest Road

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Deception](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17544488) by [Starfox_50000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starfox_50000/pseuds/Starfox_50000). 



F. A.

On a road through a quiet wood:

"Are you certain that your father will not throw me in his dungeons and leave me to rot?"

A hum. "My father is many things, Gimli, but he is not barbaric."

For a moment, Gimli looked slightly taken back, but then he chortled. "Please, do tell Adad those exact words when we get to Erebor. I want to see his face."

"Well, we did receive a missive from Lindir shortly before the Company's arrival to our wood. While the message itself was," Legolas paused. "slightly emotional, we managed to discern something about furniture repairs, food shortages, and an incident involving fountains and a distinct lack of clothing. We sought to take the appropriate precautions."

"App-" Gimli sputtered. "Appropriate precautions? I'll show you appropriate precautions, you pointy-eared princeling-"

Legolas laughed and held his hands up. "Peace, mellon-nin. I did not mean to offend."

Gimli grumbled but quieted his voice. "I understand if our festivities offend your elvish sensibilities, but surely that does not warrant us being thrown in dungeons!" he scowled, still not completely mollified.

"We could not afford to disrupt the order in the Elvenking's halls," Legolas answered more somberly.

Gimli snorted, "Yes. Order. Need I remind you that Adad and the company escaped because our burglar got some elves drunk? No, princeling. Your father's hatred of dwarrows is well known to us."

"I will not defend my father's dislike of dwarves to you, but I will say his reasons are founded in memory. But the Company's imprisonment had nothing to do with my father's personal opinions. He is a more experienced king than that."

His response was met with silence.

A twist in the saddle brought blue eyes meeting brown. "You must understand."

Legolas hesitated, but plunged forward. "While Rivendell and Lothlorien enjoy the protection of a ring of power, we do not have the same privilege." he bowed his head. "My father says our people were driven ever further north because Sauron lay on our doorstep."

"Our people are known to outsiders as more dangerous because we have to be. Because the alternative to being dangerous is being dead." His eyes gleamed with pride and sorrow. "We hold our borders through the will of our king and the strength of our people. We enjoy relative peace because every elf is willing to maintain the order established in our halls. We do not disrupt that order because _we cannot afford to._ "

"And then your Adad and his king cross our wood with a company of dwarves, a hobbit, a wizard, and a dozen orcs on your tail with the objective to slay a dragon." His eyes flicked back to Gimli. "Surely you understand why we could not let you continue?"

Gimli blinked in surprise. "I now understand your reaction to the trespassing, but why did you detain the Company? The quest to slay the dragon would not affect you. Had you let them go they would not have caused you as much trouble."

"We live in a forest of wood," Legolas commented dryly.

"You wood elves live in halls of stone, no?" Gimli's brows furrowed further in confusion. "They would protect you. Stone does not burn."

"But people do." An ancient grief shadowed Legolas's eyes for a moment, then cleared. "Besides, the Company did not have to cause that much trouble! Thorin Oakenshield had the opportunity to speak with the king. My father is not unreasonable."

Gimli cleared his throat several times. "Princeling, laddie, please do not take offense but," he coughed uncomfortably. "Well, let's just say that while my people wandered the wilderness King Thorin came across some traders from Harondor. When he mentioned that he was traveling north, Adad said that the traders looked as if Sauron himself were behind them. Adad and King Thorin asked if some other tragedy scourged the land, and out came stories of the Elvenking of the North who flaunted his wealth and station at the expense of his people."

Gimli looked up and saw Legolas staring at him inscrutably and shifted his seat on the horse. "To be honest lad, Adad said that King Thorin came to the Elvenking's halls expecting a mad and greedy king. And when the Company was thrown in the dungeons his first thought was that the traders' warnings were true, not to mention your father's deal for white gems."

Gimli squinted up at Legolas's trembling lips. "You are alright, are you lad? I thought you might have joined this suicide mission of a fellowship to get away from life in Mirkwood." He tugged at his beard. "The Elvenking does not..." he floundered.

Legolas turned forward again, but not before Gimli saw a wet sheen to his eyes. He grew more worried. "Laddie, we truly do not have to go to the Elvenking's halls. We could turn around and explore Fangorn and the Glittering Caves! Aragorn offered you Lordship of Ithilien! Laddie?"

Gimli saw the shoulders in front of him tremble and panicked, because _what in Arda does a dwarf do with a crying elfling_? He briefly contemplated his repertoire of inappropriate jokes when-

-Legolas howled. Gimli felt his eyes widen. He saw the elf's chest heaving, his hands clamped over his mouth and his eyes streaming with tears. He saw Legolas take one look at his horrified expression and-

Dimly, Gimli realized that the sound echoing in his ears was not great heaving sobs. Was Legolas... _cackling_?

He saw his friend fight to get himself under control. After a few hiccuping breaths, Legolas cried, "Gimli! Mellon-nin, I appreciate your concern but I am fine! I had the happiest adolescence an elfling could ask for during the Watchful Peace."

A glance to the side and, "I may also have had a not insignificant part in crafting my father's reputation."

Gimli could do nothing but blink.

Legolas huffed a small laugh. "We had heard that a trading caravan was coming from the south to our wood. With Sauron's power growing at the time, my father and I grew suspicious. Since we could not turn them away without good reason, I planned a deception to chase away the trader before he could glean too much about us."

Legolas winced. "I may have gone a little bit overboard?"

Gimli's jaw dropped. "Overboard? Laddie, if the quest for Erebor wasn't on a time constraint King Thorin would have tried to avoid Mirkwood at all!"

Legolas laughed himself breathless again, then sobered. "Then I'm glad our trickery proved effective. You cannot deny that it was a sound strategic maneuver." His hands clenched in the horse's mane. "Our patrols were spread thin enough while looking for spider nests. To anyone outside the forest, we hoped the rumors were an effective deterrent. We hoped any hostile forces would hesitate because of the king's supposed cruelty, or even if they did attack they would underestimate the strength of a supposedly oppressed people."

"After the Battle of the Five Armies, I journeyed with Aragorn and his rangers for a while," Legolas revealed. "I was younger and more sheltered about the world, and certainly less wise." His lips quirked. "There were times when I took risks that I shouldn't have, and the only reason I escaped relatively unscathed was because my aggressors did not wish to incur the wrath of the Elvenking of the North."

Legolas turned his head to the side with a trembling smile. "The Elvenking of the North loves his people. Enough to fight a constant fight against the darkness for over an Age, enough to prioritize his people's safety above all else, enough to let his name be dragged through the mud over and over again to keep it that way."

His eyes met Gimli's. "Throwing the Company in the dungeons was only a manifestation of the image we chose to portray to the rest of the world. But for whatever my word is worth, I apologize that my kin treated yours as such."

In light of such blue-eyed earnestness, Gimli could only pat the elf on the arm. "All is well, lad. All is forgiven."

Legolas smiled with relief, then with a spark of mischief. "That is not to say I did not thoroughly enjoy the process. We made such extensive preparations for the Company's arrival in the short time we could. My captains and I did not have time to run through all of the changes with my father like we did when the southern traders came. We just shoved him in a set of robes that we commissioned exactly for occasions such as this. You should have seen his face after he saw how I renovated his throne room!"

Gimli tried to imagine an older, sterner version of Legolas first dumbstruck and then irritated and then exasperated, and started sniggering.

Legolas looked back fondly. "Since we have established that you will not be thrown in the dungeons the minute you step foot inside my father's halls, maybe you can try his wine and gripe together about all the times when I have made your lives more difficult. At the very least, he will want to pick your brain about what exactly happened during our journey to Mordor so he has enough ammunition to lecture me afterward."

"He does not trust your recount of events?"

A deadpan look.

A comfortable silence reigned in the quiet wood. And then-

"Do you think your father would object to a rematch for our drinking contest?"

And a peal of laughter rang out, bright and clear as day and soon after a second joined it, rougher and uneven but no less fair, as two friends continued down the road in the quiet wood.

**Author's Note:**

> Holy crap I haven't written in 5 years. Forgive any awkwardness in dialogue.


End file.
